Journey to the Bangkok

I'M BACK FROM THE DEAD!!! And yes, I'm still alive and well... barely.

Frankly, my life for the past few months has been pretty uneventful or 'unblog-worthy' as so I put it. College life is tough, there's no doubt about it. But now that I am on semester break, I am now free to live my life... for about 2 weeks.

Anyway, I just came back from Bangkok after nearly 12 years since I've been there.
Awesome trip.

We were staying at the Charium Riverside hotel which is located right by the Chao Phraya river. Its so weird staying next to a river where there are boat taxis, public boats and other kinds of boats just floating by like any normal transportation on the road.

On our first day, like any other typical Malaysian tourist, we have to MAKAN! And where else to start a great trip but at the Chao Phraya Princess Cruise.

Mmm.... look at all that food....

There was plenty of food at the buffet and they even have SASHIMI!!! Oh the yumminest!

I even had my first cocktail. Pink Lady. A classic. Oh yeah, I'm now into photo editing! Yalah, yalah.... I'm so outdated lar~

One of the views you can see along the river. There are loads of temples all over Thailand. Trust me, its practically impossible NOT to see a temple anywhere around even during a 10 minute stroll.

Honestly, I find it quite fascinating to live by a large river where public transportation  such as taxis and buses are transformed into the water version of it. There are even banks on boats that actually goes to the homes of the people for service if they want and there are also ambulance and school buses in water modes too!

Look at that! Doesn't this just prove my point? The river is an important part of the local's lives. They even have a floating market there! Isn't that awesome? Not sure if this is where the locals go to for trading purposes because of all the tourists I see everywhere, but it sure is a great contribution to the tourist industry.

I just love looking at all the stuff the people had to sell and there's all kinds of stuff people actually sell on their boats; food, souvenirs, clothes, bags, hats,..... food..... And also food, did I mention food?

See? People actually eat by the river like a hawker stall and the tourists doesn't seem to mind at all. I saw this tourist with a bowl of noodles and he doesn't seem to know how to use a chopstick. He just keeps jabbing at the noodles and trying to roll it up like a spaghetti, but he only managed to secure a single stand of noodle after a long battle with the two little wooden sticks. HAHAHA!!!! 

I honestly do not know what is the big deal of riding an elephant... so smelly.....

I know this sounds weird and totally out of the topic, but if you could just zoom into that picture above and take a closer look at the guy on the elephant's head and tell me, does that guy look like Michael Jackson before he turned white or what??

Like seriously, when I first saw him, I was like HOLY S**T its Michael Jackson riding an elephant in Thailand!!! Daniel thought I was retarded then. Whatever.

Ok ok this is soo freaky! Apparently, there's this portrait of a Buddha on the wall that has been carved to look like its watching you from any angle when you look at it. Its kinda creepy, but look...

Isn't that so weird?? Its just looking at you wherever you go! 

I love how much work has been done just to complete all these woodwork. Check it out!

Amazing stuff, huh?

Chinatown in Thailand seems to be much larger than our own Chinatown in Malaysia. Loads of people, food stalls by the streets, but the one disappointment that I had about the place was that there was no place to shop! Like, no souvenirs, no clothes, no bags, nothing! WTF

OK, so there were a few stalls that sells some stuff like this one. But only a few. Crocs? Yuck.

How is it that they still have Durians? I thought it was out of season. Anyway, I still think our Malaysian Durians are waaay better. You have not lived until you try the Musang King. Heavenly stuff....

We also visited quite a few temples including this palace. Apparently, this is where the royal family goes to when they have an event going on and it also used to be where all the royals used to live including the many concubines who has a house each to herself.

I can't imagine what its like to be a concubine. I mean, it must be weird to be wife no.2 or even 12. Or can you imagine having loads of wives at the same time? What if you lose track? What if any woman can just sneak in and pretend to be your wife then enjoy all the luxuries?

Oh well, to each his own.

Because the palace is a HUGE place and it would probably take forever to explore the entire place on foot under the hot sun, we hired a golf cart. Lazy tourists...

And look who's the driver! 

I've never driven a golf cart before, but its easy. Like driving a go kart. The only thing that bugs me is the fact that it can only go at a maximum speedy pace of........ 5km/h.

One of the concubines' houses. An adorable little house. Apparently, the concubines are not allowed to leave their house in case they meet other men. No one except the king and maybe one or two servants are allowed into the house. Especially men. No one messes with the king's women.

But it kinda sucks to stay in that little house all the time, doesn't it? No TV, no Facebook, no Internet, nothing! It would've been torture for me if I have to be stuck in one place with no entertainment all the time. Plus no boys??? Damn... those girls sure do love their king a lot to go through all that. 

The king in Thailand has been greatly respected by all the Thais. I see his picture as well as the queen's almost everywhere and they put flowers all over it. Its just amazing to see how much they love their King.

What fascinates me the most are the ruins of temples in Bangkok. They're HUGE! And considering that it was once on fire for nearly two weeks, was submerged in 2 metres of water and through all the crazy weathers, I think it still looks great!

There's a reason why this Buddha's head is in the tree. Remember when I mentioned earlier that the temple had once faced a great fire? Well, there was a huge statue of the Buddha in the temple. Because the neck was the most fragile part, the head fell off when the roof caved in. 

So as not to disrespect the Buddha, especially since the head is the most important part, the monks placed the head in that tree to look like it belongs there and for... serenity? I dunno... but basically, its to respect the Buddha.

Also, its in that particular temple where the actual Lord Buddha's ashes was once buried. Its already moved to a museum today though... so don't get your hopes up of seeing it.

This statue of the Buddha is about 1500 years old and it was only recently found!

Funny thing about this trip. After our first experience riding a Tok Tok, we swore we would NEVER ride another Tok Tok again. The last time we rode on one, the road was dusty, it was uncomfortable and the worst part is when we're right behind a bus that farts thick clouds of black smoke. 

Well, that night we were in a hurry to make it to a fancy buffet which we reserved for 7pm. Unfortunately, it was Friday night which means traffic is heavier than usual. All the taxis we hailed refused to take us downtown because of the terrible jam and they say that where we're going would probably take more than an hour to get there.

By that time, we were getting pretty desperate as we had already changed our reservation time to a later one but we had yet to find transport. It was then that we met a taxi driver who was talking to a Tok Tok driver who once again refused to drive us there, but then he suggested that we take the Tok Tok because it is smaller and can take shortcuts.

Like I said, we were desperate, so we rode on the Tok Tok. It was an uncomfortable journey especially with Daniel as large as an elephant so mom had to sit on the floor. I would've sat on the floor instead if it wasn't for the fact that I was wearing a skirt at that time.

In the end, we finally made it. Fortunately, we were nowhere near any farting buses. The buffet was great! Check out what the chef did for my crepe. Doraemon!

What made this trip even more memorable was the time when I actually burned my jeans in the hotel. I don't know what happened, but one moment I smelt toast, the next, I saw my jeans on fire!

What happened was that I left my jeans next to the electric stove. I swear I did not remember touching the knob, nor do I remember turning it on. I never thought anything like this could happen, but it did.

So I quickly turned off the stove, and threw my jeans into the bathroom sink to soak it in water. By that time, the fire alarm went off and the sound was deafening!

Not long after that, a hotel staff, 2 guards and a policemen was knocking at the door within minutes to check out what's been going on. It was pretty embarrassing to explain what happened to them, but at least everything was okay. 

Geez, I can't believe I could've almost set the hotel on fire!

My dad actually thought I purposely put the jeans on the stove and turned it on so that I could dry it quickly or something like that.

Honestly, how stupid do you think I am?

In the end, I cut my jeans into short so that I can wear them again. Also, the strap of my bag was on the stove too, so the buckle had melted.

So all's well that ends well.